Discovery Institute's Blog, page 497

Wallace Gets "Darwinized"

Michael Flannery is author of the new biography, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life.

Recently someone forwarded an article by David Quammen on Alfred Russel Wallace to my attention. Although appearing in the National Geographic back in December of 2008, the essay raises pertinent issues regarding current writing on this most interesting and important of Victorian naturalists. Quammen wrote a comparatively short journalistic account of his Down House hero titled The Reluctant Mr...

Skeptic Magazine Unskeptical about Miller-Urey Experiment

Skeptic Magazine shows no skepticism towards the Miller-Urey experiment, instead claiming the experiment simulated the early earth's atmosphere.

Recently I went to a local bookstore and found myself perusing the latest issue of Skeptic Magazine, "A Perspective on the Nature and Origin of Life." The cover story was on the origin of life, and written by chemical engineer Paul F. Deisler Jr. (Vol. 16, No. 2). While the article admits that "[c]urrent scientific detection technology and e...

Does the New Scientific Evidence About the Origin of Life Put an End to Darwinian Evolution?

The John Ankerberg Show will launch this weekend a multi-part series examining the science behind origin of life theories and featuring Dr. Stephen C. Meyer.

In four television programs beginning Sunday night, Feb. 27th at 9 PM EST on Daystar and Sky Angel at 11 PM EST across the US and over 200 nations worldwide, join Dr. John Ankerberg as he interviews Dr. Meyer. Go here for a full schedule for both cable and local channels.

On this week's first program: Every person's body...

Does Watson Have a Mind?

There has been much discussion about the recent appearance on Jeopardy of a computer named Watson. Watson has played against human contestants, and has provided uncannily accurate answers to some questions. Can Watson actually think? Does Watson have a mind?

What does it mean 'to have a mind'? To have a mind, one must have mental states. There are two hallmarks of mental states: qualia and intentionality.

A quale (singular of qualia) is a raw subjective experience, such as the...

Darwin v. Design Conference Coming to Oklahoma to Address Debate Over Science and God

During the past decade, an increasing number of so-called "new atheists" have argued that human beings and the rest of nature are the products of chance and necessity rather than intelligent design. These "new atheists" typically base their ideas on Darwinian evolution, arguing that Darwin proved that nature is the product of a blind and unguided evolutionary process.

The message of the new atheists has spread far and wide. Just two years ago, thousands of students flocked to a lecture by...

Wallace as a Way Forward in Debate Over Evolution

The debate over evolution and intelligent design has implications which often overshadow the science -- implications for religion, philosophy, and society. Clashing worldviews have entrenched interest in the question, which has led to a stalemate in public opinion, as David Klinghoffer writes in Washington Post. "For the past three decades, Americans have been locked into a basically unchanging split of views on the subject, with only about 16 percent believing in Darwin's theory of...

Lobbyists Resort to Myth Information Campaign on Academic Freedom Legislation

It's springtime (almost), which means that Darwin lobbyists are starting to come out in full force to spread misinformation about academic freedom legislation.

This is most unfortunate because their goal, plain and simple, is to prevent students from hearing about scientific critiques of neo-Darwinian evolution in the classroom.

I've already covered some of these bad objections here. Let's consider the false claims being promoted by critics of academic freedom legislation.

Myth #1....

Viewpoint Discrimination Threatens Freedom of Thought

CSC senior fellow and ENV contributor David Klinghoffer has a piece in the Washington Examiner detailing the recent trend of discrimination against Darwin-doubters:

A spate of lawsuits and complaints poses the question of whether, in scientific fields, a person holding unorthodox views on Darwinian theory merits being fired, denied a job, or other penalties.

Last month at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, senior computer specialist David Coppedge was fired, having first been demoted. What...

Does "Speedy Evolution" of PCB Resistance Help Darwinism?

Last week, the New York Times featured an article which reported that "in just 50 years, a fish has evolved a resistance to toxic chemicals polluting its Hudson River home, a new study finds."

The NYT article reports,

Between 1947 and 1976, roughly 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were dumped in the Hudson by two General Electric facilities. The Atlantic tomcod, a small bottom-feeding fish, quickly accumulated high levels of the toxic compounds, which caused lethal...

Should We Fear the Rise of 'Intelligent' Computers?

Philosopher Jay Richards has published an interesting piece about IBM's Watson computer trouncing Jeopardy champs looking at the consternation this caused for some people.

Computers are becoming more powerful at an ever-increasing rate, but will they ever become conscious? Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil thinks so and argues that someday we will "download" our software (our minds) and "upgrade" our hardware (our bodies) to become immortal. So, Richards was able to get...